The present invention claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 11-336727 filed Nov. 26, 1999, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an incoming notification pattern setting circuit and method of a portable telephone constructed so that a user can provide incoming notification by various lighting color patterns in a portable telephone apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
In a portable telephone apparatus, it is necessary to notify a user that incoming has occurred, and for that purpose, incoming notification means constructed so that the user recognizes the incoming through senses of sight, hearing, tough (vibration), etc. is provided.
As functions of the incoming notification means of a portable telephone, the ability to perform incoming notification by characteristic patterns for the purpose of differentiating among other users in the incoming notification to express originality other than the purpose of recognizing an originator has been required.
As such incoming notification means, in recent years, the incoming notification means providing a function of creating a ringing tone (melody) on user""s own to set it as one method of expressing originality as well as recognizing an originator has become the mainstream, but the incoming notification by the ringing tone is not necessarily a preferable method since surrounding people may feel like noise and be troubled. Incidentally, the function may make the setting every partner registered in a telephone book.
As means capable of avoiding such a problem, incoming notification means by a method of expression except a tone has been desired, and a method constructed so that color or display patterns of a light emitting diode (LED) for incoming notification or vibration patterns of a vibrator for incoming notification can be set by selecting the pattern from several kinds of patterns previously prepared within the portable telephone apparatus has been known conventionally.
An incoming notification pattern setting technique of a conventional portable telephone will be described below.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a portable telephone apparatus capable of setting incoming notification patterns to which the conventional art and the present invention are applied, and FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an incoming notification pattern setting circuit of a conventional portable telephone.
As shown in FIG. 9, the portable telephone apparatus capable of setting incoming notification patterns generally comprises an antenna 101, a wireless send/receive part 102, a signal processing part 103, a notification device driving part 104, and a control part 105.
The antenna 101 sends and receives wireless signals (radio waves) between the antenna and a base station (not shown). The wireless send/receive part 102 receives a phase-modulated high-frequency signal from the base station received through the antenna 101 to demodulate the signal and reproduces audio signals or control data, and also generates a phase-modulated wave by audio signals from the signal processing part 103 or control data from the control part 105 to amplify the wave and sends out it to the antenna 101. The signal processing part 103 comprises a digital signal processor (DSP) etc. and performs processing of compressing audio signals inputted from a microphone 111 and outputting the signals to the wireless send/receive part 102 and performs processing of expanding the received audio signals and outputting the signals to a receiver 112. The notification device driving part 104, which is a member for driving various equipment for incoming notification, provides incoming notification by sound using a sounder 121 and provides incoming notification by light using an LED 122 and provides incoming notification by vibration using a vibrator 123.
The control part 105, which is a member for performing control of each part of the apparatus, detects a call number to a local apparatus from data of a predetermined position in a demodulation signal of the wireless send/receive part 102 and provides incoming notification in the notification device driving part 104 by matching the call number with the number of the local apparatus held in ID memory 131, and also implements processing of data for control to be sent and received, mail send/receive processing and a server connection function. Also, the control part 105 has read only memory (ROM) 132 for storing operational programs of a central processing unit (CPU) within the control part 105 and fixed data, and random access memory (RAM) 133 for holding temporary data in the case of operation of the CPU. A key input part 134 is used for inputting a caller ID, registration of a telephone book or setting of various functions to the control part 105. A display part 135 displays telephone number on incoming and outgoing or setting of various functions interlocked with the key input part 134. Further, the control part 105 normally has an external connector 136 made of a 16-core connector and is connected to an external device through a special cable and conducts data communications with the external device using a start-stop synchronous function 141 within the control part 105. Also, the control part 105 normally includes time means such as a timer 142.
As shown in FIG. 10, the incoming notification pattern setting circuit of the portable telephone of the conventional art comprises a CPU 201, ROM 202, RAM 203, ID-ROM 204, an output port register 205, an LED driver 206, and a plurality of LEDs 207.
The CPU 201 operates based on programs stored in the ROM 202 and checks number information in control data in the received signal from the wireless send/receive part 102 with data of a call number of a local apparatus held in the ID-ROM 204 and when a call to the local apparatus is detected, the output port register 205 is controlled directly by outputting a write signal and data previously held in the RAM 203 is read out and is once held in the output port register 205 through an address/data bus and thereafter, by outputting the data to the LED driver 206, the LED driver 206 provides incoming notification by light in the LEDs 207 by controlling the LEDs 207 based on this data.
However, in the incoming notification pattern setting technique of the conventional portable telephone, incoming notification patterns capable of expression by light, for example, simply lights and flashes during a notification period by selecting one color or a fixed combination from the plurality of LEDs and there is a limit to identification of originators, and also it was impossible for a user to freely create incoming notification patterns and an ability to express originality was also poor.
This invention is implemented in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and it is an object of the invention to provide an incoming notification pattern setting circuit and method of a portable telephone constructed so that driving patterns can also be set freely to incoming notification means by a vibrator while combinations of lighting colors or lighting patterns can be set freely from the outside to incoming notification means by light.
In order to solve the above problems, an incoming notification pattern setting circuit of a portable telephone of the present invention comprises memory means for storing data of notification patterns and data of the tempo for generating patterns of a change in lighting colors by combinations of flashing of plural LEDs by respectively driving the plural LEDs with different colors every tempo, driving data generation means for repeatedly generating driving data for driving the plural LEDs by data written from said memory means, and driving means for independently driving the plural LEDs respectively according to the driving data, and it is characterized in that it is constructed so that the data of the memory means can be set from the outside.
The driving data generation means may comprise FIFO read signal generation means for generating a read signal for directing readout from FIFO means every tempo, FIFO means for holding pattern data read from the memory means on a first-in first-out basis to output the pattern data according to the read signal and also generating an interruption at the time when a predetermined amount of data is outputted, and control means for outputting subsequent data from the memory means to the FIFO means according to the interruption.
The driving data generation means may comprise two-port memory means for holding pattern data read from the memory means to output the pattern data according to a read address, RAM read signal generation means for generating a read signal for directing readout from said two-port memory means every tempo, and read address generation means for repeatedly generating the read address of the pattern data to the two-port memory means according to the read signal.
The driving means may be constructed to drive a vibrator in synchronization with a driving pattern to any one of the plural LEDs.
The driving patterns of the LEDs selected for driving the vibrator may be switched from the outside in the driving means.
An incoming notification pattern setting method of a portable telephone on the present invention is characterized in that data of notification patterns and data of the tempo for generating patterns of a change in lighting colors by combinations of flashing of plural LEDs by respectively driving the plural LEDs with different colors every tempo are stored in memory means, and in driving data generation means, driving data for driving the plural LEDs by data written from said memory means is repeatedly generated, and in driving means, the plural LEDs, respectively, are independently driven according to the driving data, and also the data of the memory means is set from the outside.
In this method, the vibrator may be driven in synchronization with a driving pattern to any one of the plural LEDs in the driving means.
The data of notification patterns and the data of the tempo stored in the memory means can be set for every partner registered in a telephone book function so that incoming notification is performed by the notification pattern data and the tempo corresponding to an outgoing number at the time of incoming from the partner which informs my side of the outgoing number.
The data of notification patterns and the data of the tempo stored in the memory means may be inputted from a manipulation part.
In a configuration of this invention, a portable telephone apparatus comprises memory means for storing data of notification patterns and data of the tempo for generating patterns of a change in lighting colors by combinations of flashing of plural LEDs by respectively driving the plural LEDs with different colors every tempo, driving data generation means for repeatedly generating driving data for driving the plural LEDs by data written from said memory means, and driving means for independently driving the plural LEDs respectively according to the driving data, and it is constructed so that the data of the memory means can be set from the outside, so that a user can freely set the patterns of a change in lighting colors by combinations of flashing of plural LEDs and periods of the change.